Chi Zhang
Chi completed his BS in Chemistry from Peking University in China in 2012. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Chemical Biology in the Pentelute lab at MIT Chemistry Department, he joined the Boyden lab in 2017 as a postdoctoral fellow (co-mentored with Prof. Pentelute). Chi focused, during his time in the lab, on developing new chemistry approaches to precisely and accurately profile complex biological systems.
Publications
Dense, continuous membrane labeling and expansion microscopy visualization of ultrastructure in tissues
Nature Communications | 2025Shin TW, Wang H*, Zhang C*, An B, Lu Y, Zhang E, Lu X, Karagiannis ED, Kang JS, Emenari A, Symvoulidis P, Asano S, Lin L, Costa EK; IMAXT Grand Challenge Consortium; Marblestone AH, Kasthuri N, Tsai LH, Boyden ES (2025) Dense, continuous membrane labeling and expansion microscopy visualization of ultrastructure in tissues, Nature Communications 16(1):1579. (*, contributed equally)
Single-shot 20-fold expansion microscopy
Nature Methods | 2024Wang S*, Shin TW*, Yoder HB 2nd, McMillan RB, Su H, Liu Y, Zhang C, Leung KS, Yin P, Kiessling LL**, Boyden ES** (2024) Single-shot 20-fold expansion microscopy, Nature Methods, doi:10.1038/s41592-024-02454-9. Online ahead of print. (*, equal contribution; **, co-corresponding authors)
One-step nanoscale expansion microscopy reveals individual protein shapes
Nature Biotechnology | 2024Shaib AH, Chouaib AA, Chowdhury R, Altendorf J, Mihaylov D, Zhang C, Krah D, Imani V, Spencer RKW, Georgiev SV, Mougios N, Monga M, Reshetniak S, Mimoso T, Chen H, Fatehbasharzad P, Crzan D, Saal KA, Alawieh MM, Alawar N, Eilts J, Kang J, Soleimani A, Müller M, Pape C, Alvarez L, Trenkwalder C, Mollenhauer B, Outeiro TF, Köster S, Preobraschenski J, Becherer U, Moser T, Boyden ES, Aricescu AR, Sauer M, Opazo F, Rizzoli SO (2024) One-step nanoscale expansion microscopy reveals individual protein shapes, Nature Biotechnology doi:10.1038/s41587-024-02431-9. Online ahead of print.
Expansion microscopy using a single anchor molecule for high-yield multiplexed imaging of proteins and RNAs
PLoS One | 2023Cui Y*, Yang G*, Goodwin DR, O'Flanagan CH, Sinha A, Zhang C, Kitko KE, Shin TW, Park D, Aparicio S; CRUK IMAXT Grand Challenge Consortium; Boyden ES (2023) Expansion microscopy using a single anchor molecule for high-yield multiplexed imaging of proteins and RNAs, PLoS One 18(9):e0291506. (*, contributed equally)
Photo-expansion microscopy enables super-resolution imaging of cells embedded in 3D hydrogels
Nature Materials | 2023Günay KA, Chang TL, Skillin NP, Rao VV, Macdougall LJ, Cutler AA, Silver JS, Brown TE, Zhang C, Yu CJ, Olwin BB, Boyden ES, Anseth KS (2023) Photo-expansion microscopy enables super-resolution imaging of cells embedded in 3D hydrogels, Nature Materials 22(6):777-785.
Recording of cellular physiological histories along optically readable self-assembling protein chains
Nature Biotechnology | 2023Linghu C, An B, Shpokayte M, Celiker OT, Shmoel N, Zhang R, Zhang C, Park D, Park WM, Ramirez S, Boyden ES (2023) Recording of cellular physiological histories along optically readable self-assembling protein chains, Nature Biotechnology 41(5):640-651.
Expansion Microscopy for Beginners: Visualizing Microtubules in Expanded Cultured HeLa Cells
Current Protocols in Neuroscience | 2020Zhang C*, Kang JS*, Asano SM, Gao R, Boyden ES (2020) Expansion Microscopy for Beginners: Visualizing Microtubules in Expanded Cultured HeLa Cells, Current Protocols in Neuroscience 92(1):e96. (*, contributed equally)
Expansion microscopy of C. elegans
eLife | 2020Yu CJ, Barry NC, Wassie AT, Sinha A, Bhattacharya A, Asano S, Zhang C, Chen F, Hobert O, Goodman MB, Haspel G, Boyden ES (2020) Expansion microscopy of C. elegans, eLife 9:e46249.